RJ loses Kidd gloves

Whether they manage to claw their way into the playoffs or not, the ultimate story of the 2008 Nets will forever be the trauma caused by L'Affair Kidd.

As we enter the last furlong of the season, the Nets hover precariously on the brink of failure today because of Jason Kidd's unwavering desire to leave the team, and although things are looking better recently, the full recovery may not come until next year.

"I'm not going to lie," Richard Jefferson said yesterday, "we were dead men walking with the Jason Kidd situation."

A half-game out of the eighth seed in the East, and 10 games under .500 heading into tonight's game at Indiana, the Nets find themselves in a desperate situation, where every game is like a critical Game 6.

It was never supposed to be this hairy, but things went awfully wrong early on when everyone on the team knew that the captain wanted a divorce. The effect of that disconnect, according to Jefferson, all but killed the team's chances this year, and only recently has he believed the Nets are showing encouraging signs of recovery from the ordeal.

"Jason needed a change," Jefferson explained. "I think the team needed a change, and so when we were losing nine games in a row, that stuff never would have happened if we were all of the right mind, the entire team. Now are we paying for it? Yes."

Jefferson didn't criticize Kidd for the way he handled his trade request, and he didn't question that Kidd played as hard as he could for the Nets. But he said that it was obvious to everyone on the team -- even before the regular season started -- that Kidd didn't want to be there, which had unavoidable negative consequences.

While many people didn't know for sure about Kidd's dissatisfaction until late January when he made his desire to be traded public, Jefferson said the team knew as early as training camp.

"People made it seem like that situation came up only when he went public," Jefferson said. "No, that situation had been going on pretty much all season, but it was behind closed doors. We do a very good job of keeping our laundry in house, our dirty laundry. So when it did come out, it was such big news because that's not the way we normally go about things."

From the results on the floor, it was obvious something was wrong. A team that Kidd himself called the most talented he'd been on started out 10-15, crawled to 18-17, and then, wham, lost nine straight. The third loss in that string was the game against the Knicks that Kidd missed with what he called a migraine headache, a malady some people in the organization thought was a protest over a contract dispute. Either way, it appeared that Kidd, in his own words, had let go of the rope.

"It definitely wasn't a distraction," Jefferson said. "But you could see the 100 percent main focus wasn't New Jersey Nets basketball. That's not a knock on anybody. I respect J. I respect what he did for this franchise. I've been here every day, but you knew he needed a change and you knew he wanted a change. The best thing you could do was try to accommodate both parties."

That happened when Kidd was traded to the Mavericks on Feb. 20 in a deal that centered around younger point guard Devin Harris. Naturally, it has taken some time for Harris and the Nets to get acquainted on the court, and that process was delayed because Harris was injured at the time of the trade and missed his first four games with the Nets.

As Jefferson notes, by the time Harris returned, the Nets only had 25 games to figure things out, and five of them were on that dreadful five-game Texas road trip.

"Both sides are happy," he said. "You just wish that it could have happened a little bit sooner. ... Maybe you're able to steal some of those wins that we've let go because everyone wasn't mentally there, including myself."

But the good news for the Nets is that the best of Harris is still ahead. The Nets have won five of their last eight games, and Jefferson sees a bright future, whether it comes in April, or next season.

"Now that we're starting to get it, I just hope we have enough time," Jefferson said. "Even if things don't go the way we want them to this season, I feel very, very confident and positive about next season, just because we'll have our team. Again, the fact that we only get to do it for 20 games is a little frustrating."